Development of an Overhead Power Line Contact Alarm for Mobile Equipment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cawley, James C. ; Homce, Gerald T. ; Sacks, H. Kenneth ; Yenchek, Michael R.
• Description:
  This paper describes research by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Pittsburgh Research Laboratory to develop an overhead power line contact alarm system for mobile equipment. Analysis of accident reports revealed that many workers were unaware of a power line contact until after an injury occurred. This suggests that many injuries could be prevented by an alarm system that alerts operators and other nearby workers when a line has been contacted. Sensing electric current flow through mobile equipment chassis and measuring electric field strength between equipment chassis and ground were studied as possible techniques for detecting power line contact. Experiments involved using these techniques to monitor energized cranes and dump-bed trucks operating on commonly encountered types of road and work area surfaces. Sensing current flow proved inadequate when operating on a high-resistivity surface such as asphalt, but electric field measurement was more reliable, performing well on several different surface types. Additionally, electrical characteristics of the cranes and trucks were examined. This confirmed that, in a power line contact accident, the main hazard to personnel is simultaneously contacting the equipment and ground. A prototype power line contact alarm system was constructed and tested. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Electric Injuries Electricity Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Accident Prevention Author Keywords: Contact Alarm System Contact-alarm-system Cranes Current-flow-sensing Current Flow Sensing Dump-bed-trucks Dump-bed Trucks Electric-field-measurement Electrical-burns Electrical-safety Electrical-shock Electrical Burn Electrical Injury Electrical Shock Electric Field Measurement Electrocution Electrocutions Injuries Injury Prevention Miners Mining-industry Mobile-equipment Mobile Equipment Overhead-power-lines Overhead Power Lines Power-line-contact Power Line Contact Safety Safety-research Truck-safety Truck Safety Warning-signals Workers

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1744-232X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  87-103
• Volume:
  12
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026374
• Citation:
  Int J Heavy Vehicle Syst 2005 Apr; 12(2):87-103
• Contact Point Address:
  G. T. Homce, NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Email:
  GHomce@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Traumatic Injuries
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3d9c2e5a32b7c42d553c99c816ece7f2d71b619387540a0700df7ca38638b3eb55393ed5d65d6beb804141ec6b75b156eab68cb65e46be3a6bdc425ffdc57e11
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220991/cdc_220991_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.94 MB ]